Random Ramblings

Driven wrote:

messiaen77 wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

Driven wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Driven wrote:

kerrick wrote:

Driven wrote:

I'm in interview season myself (over reading week, so I have to stay in town... grr...), but I don't have multiple interviews for the same job...

How are the interviews going?  Any promising leads?

I finished my third and final one today (at least for this round, who knows what'll happen next).  It went reasonably well I think, though I'm becoming fairly torn about the job...  It'd allow me to continue working from home, provide good benefits, and I think the pay will be pretty good.  But the specific role isn't something I'm particularly excited for and it'd require up to 30% travel.  :/

One or two promising leads, I guess. One would be in my hometown, which is ideal on many fronts. Another is with the Ministry of Transportation, which while not my absolute dream job is very close to what I want to do

What's the job you're looking at?

"Ministry of Transportation" sounds like something out of George Orwell's "1984" novel. 

and Department of Transportation doesn't?

No.  They are totally different!   

Everything governmental in the novel "1984" was the Ministry of this or the Ministry of that.

Orwell was British, and all their stuff is "Ministry" and their government people are "ministers".  Makes more sense than "secretary".

So does ministry to the poor also sounds like it's from 1984?

No, because it doesn't sound like a government institution.  Oddly enough in the story 1984 the "Ministries" names were pretty much the opposite of what they actually did.  The institution related to war was called The Ministry of Peace (or Minipax in "newspeak").  The institution concerned with censorship was The Ministry of Truth (or Minitru).  The Ministry of Plenty rationed consumable resources and prevented wealth accumulation.
So the Ministry of Transportation would be concerned with clogging the roads and railways I guess.

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

I need to get on a plan, but I am not going to do Weight Watchers.  You have to assign points to everything you eat.  You then have a certain amount of points you can consume a day.  I have known a few people that were on it, and they really seemed like they were in slavery to making their food behave.  As soon as they reached their goal weight, they stopped counting points and got larger than they were before.

I pray it works for you, though.  I want to hear some weight loss successes.

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

I need to get on a plan, but I am not going to do Weight Watchers.  You have to assign points to everything you eat.  You then have a certain amount of points you can consume a day.  I have known a few people that were on it, and they really seemed like they were in slavery to making their food behave.  As soon as they reached their goal weight, they stopped counting points and got larger than they were before.

I pray it works for you, though.  I want to hear some weight loss successes.

My wife did WW (ya see, Weight Watchers doesn't exist anymore, now its got a cool, hip, vague, millennial-type name--WW.  It apparently isn't about weight loss anymore, its about "wellness," which happens to include weight loss.) and continues to be very successful.  I think the key is not thinking of it as a diet where you are allowed to eat some food and not allowed to eat other food.  Instead, think in terms of changing how and what you eat.  That's why I struggled with it every time I tried it.  Right now I'm using MyFitnessPal to track what I eat and it's going ok for me.

I use MyFitnessPal as well.  It definitely helps . . . not only for the calories but for other things like sodium and potassium, which I need to keep track of.  Plus you can link in other devices (like Fitbit or Motiv) to keep track of exercise.  It's pretty handy.

Was finally able to order the Pianissimo album from Virgin Black 

Better late than never!  At least you ordered it before they discontinued it.  Apparently this is a one-time deal and it won't be available (at least, on its own) ever again.

kerrick wrote:

Better late than never!  At least you ordered it before they discontinued it.  Apparently this is a one-time deal and it won't be available (at least, on its own) ever again.

Yeah, it seems they took Saviour Machine's idea of packaging the whole magnum opus in a single set, except Virgin Black is actually going to do it.

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

I use MyFitnessPal as well.  It definitely helps . . . not only for the calories but for other things like sodium and potassium, which I need to keep track of.  Plus you can link in other devices (like Fitbit or Motiv) to keep track of exercise.  It's pretty handy.

Oooo, Fitbit is awesome. I've got one. I totally get sucked in to the computer vortex and forget to stand up and move around. Fitbit vibrates once an hour (at 10 minutes to the hour) and tells me how many steps I need to do to make up my goal (250 steps) for that hour and then when I achieve it, it does a little celebratory jig that makes me smile every time.

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

I need to get on a plan, but I am not going to do Weight Watchers.  You have to assign points to everything you eat.  You then have a certain amount of points you can consume a day.  I have known a few people that were on it, and they really seemed like they were in slavery to making their food behave.  As soon as they reached their goal weight, they stopped counting points and got larger than they were before.

I pray it works for you, though.  I want to hear some weight loss successes.

Oh man that's not good.  I think it will help me because I didn't realize how much I was eating before (volume wise) and also how bad some of the stuff I was eating actually is.  I have so much weight I need to loose that I doubt I could get to my goal weight and gain it all back again.  Truly hoping this will completely change my eating habits altogether.

messiaen77 wrote:

Quote :

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

My wife did WW (ya see, Weight Watchers doesn't exist anymore, now its got a cool, hip, vague, millennial-type name--WW.  It apparently isn't about weight loss anymore, its about "wellness," which happens to include weight loss.) and continues to be very successful.  I think the key is not thinking of it as a diet where you are allowed to eat some food and not allowed to eat other food.  Instead, think in terms of changing how and what you eat.  That's why I struggled with it every time I tried it.  Right now I'm using MyFitnessPal to track what I eat and it's going ok for me.

What helps is that I like quite a bit of food that is good for you (veggies and lean protiens), I just eat too much of it.  And I also like chips, pasteries and chocolate bars...which you pretty much can't have on WW (see what I did there, I can be hip and trendy too).  I have the added benefit (I guess) that over-eating causing me to have digestive and bowel problems that have developed over the last few years... so eating less is actually helping me feel better.  Hoping that will be enough to curb my "eating for comfort" issues.  Never heard of MyFitnessPal, might have to look into that.

As my Facebook friends may have noticed, I am now endowed with glasses. I didn't want to admit to myself I needed them, but after focusing on things over 3-4 feet away became near impossible, I gave in.

I cannot read anything without my glasses these days, and yet for some reason, I still leave the house without them sometimes... so frustrating. Can't tell you how many glasses I had to run to a local store and snag cuz I didn't bring mine, yet needed to read something - LOL ! 
So here's to you remembering yours :-)

I started off with reading glasses ten years ago.  I transitioned into glasses all the time around five years ago.  I embraced them.  I can't read anything without them.  I even paid extra for transitional lenses so I wouldn't need another pair as sunglasses.  You get used to them.

I've been fighting bifocals for years, they are about to win.

Staybrite wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

I need to get on a plan, but I am not going to do Weight Watchers.  You have to assign points to everything you eat.  You then have a certain amount of points you can consume a day.  I have known a few people that were on it, and they really seemed like they were in slavery to making their food behave.  As soon as they reached their goal weight, they stopped counting points and got larger than they were before.

I pray it works for you, though.  I want to hear some weight loss successes.

Oh man that's not good.  I think it will help me because I didn't realize how much I was eating before (volume wise) and also how bad some of the stuff I was eating actually is.  I have so much weight I need to loose that I doubt I could get to my goal weight and gain it all back again.  Truly hoping this will completely change my eating habits altogether.

messiaen77 wrote:

Quote :

Staybrite wrote:

It's my wife's birthday today.  Somehow her birthday present is that "I" have to go on weight watchers.  This is going to make it a lot harder to sneak all that junk food.

My wife did WW (ya see, Weight Watchers doesn't exist anymore, now its got a cool, hip, vague, millennial-type name--WW.  It apparently isn't about weight loss anymore, its about "wellness," which happens to include weight loss.) and continues to be very successful.  I think the key is not thinking of it as a diet where you are allowed to eat some food and not allowed to eat other food.  Instead, think in terms of changing how and what you eat.  That's why I struggled with it every time I tried it.  Right now I'm using MyFitnessPal to track what I eat and it's going ok for me.

What helps is that I like quite a bit of food that is good for you (veggies and lean protiens), I just eat too much of it.  And I also like chips, pasteries and chocolate bars...which you pretty much can't have on WW (see what I did there, I can be hip and trendy too).  I have the added benefit (I guess) that over-eating causing me to have digestive and bowel problems that have developed over the last few years... so eating less is actually helping me feel better.  Hoping that will be enough to curb my "eating for comfort" issues.  Never heard of MyFitnessPal, might have to look into that.

You can eat those things on WW, you just have to account for them, and even though we guys get a boatload of points, pastries and chocolate bars eat through them pretty quickly.

I've received confirmation on all sides that I've been accepted to a coop placement in my hometown!  This will be a good opportunity for me to live with my parents and hopefully work on personality differences with my family. And I'll be that much closer to my girlfriend's school

Awesome!  Sounds pretty ideal.  Living with parents generally means cheap rent and free laundry machine usage.    Though those "personality differences" can be tricky, depending.  You seem like a pretty mellow and agreeable bloke so I can't imagine any differences would be too severe. 

Plus, now that you'll be wearing glasses, they'll have to take you more seriously.  I think that's how it works, right?

messiaen77 wrote:

I've been fighting bifocals for years, they are about to win.

I have transitional progressive glasses and progressive safety glasses.  If you've never worn progressives, it'll take some time to get used to walking down stairs 

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

messiaen77 wrote:

I've been fighting bifocals for years, they are about to win.

I have transitional progressive glasses and progressive safety glasses.  If you've never worn progressives, it'll take some time to get used to walking down stairs 

I had to joint the bifocal/progressives club about 2 years ago.  They do take some getting used to but it's nice being able to read again.

messiaen77 wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

What helps is that I like quite a bit of food that is good for you (veggies and lean protiens), I just eat too much of it.  And I also like chips, pasteries and chocolate bars...which you pretty much can't have on WW (see what I did there, I can be hip and trendy too).  I have the added benefit (I guess) that over-eating causing me to have digestive and bowel problems that have developed over the last few years... so eating less is actually helping me feel better.  Hoping that will be enough to curb my "eating for comfort" issues.  Never heard of MyFitnessPal, might have to look into that.

You can eat those things on WW, you just have to account for them, and even though we guys get a boatload of points, pastries and chocolate bars eat through them pretty quickly.

I noticed that, but I like to eat more than one pastry and a side salad in one day. 
So I'm laying off the carb-laden and sweet/fatty stuff and trying to eat the more healthy stuff.
I was excited to see that I could hit up one of my favorite fast-food joints (Taco Time) and get two Baja Tacos (without the tater tots) for lunch and still have enough points to eat a reasonable dinner tonight.

kerrick wrote:

Plus, now that you'll be wearing glasses, they'll have to take you more seriously.  I think that's how it works, right?

Not always the case my friend 

Staybrite wrote:

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

messiaen77 wrote:

I've been fighting bifocals for years, they are about to win.

I have transitional progressive glasses and progressive safety glasses.  If you've never worn progressives, it'll take some time to get used to walking down stairs 

I had to joint the bifocal/progressives club about 2 years ago.  They do take some getting used to but it's nice being able to read again.

I got my first set of bifocals five years ago when I broke my ankle.  I had to get used to bifocals while swinging on crutches.  That wasn't fun.

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

messiaen77 wrote:

I've been fighting bifocals for years, they are about to win.

I have transitional progressive glasses and progressive safety glasses.  If you've never worn progressives, it'll take some time to get used to walking down stairs 

I had to joint the bifocal/progressives club about 2 years ago.  They do take some getting used to but it's nice being able to read again.

I got my first set of bifocals five years ago when I broke my ankle.  I had to get used to bifocals while swinging on crutches.  That wasn't fun.

Oh wow I bet, could have required another trip to the hospital if you weren't careful.